Many motor vehicles have motorized systems for opening one or more of the vehicle's side doors that swing open. These motorized systems may include features that are intended to detect obstacles in the opening path of the side doors while the side doors are being opened. However, these systems detect the obstacle by actually coming into physical contact with the obstacle. For example, a side door detects that an obstacle (e.g., another automobile, a person, etc.) is within its opening path when the side door contacts the obstacle. However, for power swinging side doors, there is a risk of the user initiating a door open event into oncoming traffic when a vehicle is parked.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method for inhibiting a motor vehicle side door from swinging open into an oncoming traffic lane. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.